The goals of WINNER shifted, however, in the post-earthquake contractor “gold rush.” With an agenda dominated by Monsanto and DC contractors, the revised WINNER program sold out Haiti’s agriculture. The new focus was on providing hybrid Monsanto seed to Haitian farmers to address a non-existent seed emergency. The following discussion highlights why WINNER is ill-conceived, poorly managed, and likely to hurt Haitian farmers.

USAID last tapped Chemonics in 2006 to work in Afghanistan. USAID’s own Inspector General found that Chemonics didn’t uphold its contract in Afghanistan (PDF), failing to meet any of its 8 goals. One wonders why USAID would hire them again…

Because of this, Monsanto and Chemonics have a moral responsibility to educate farmers about health precautions. Yet they not only failed to do so, they even distributed seeds in unmarked bags – thus endangering people and the environment without their knowledge.

Ironically, Monsanto’s donation is setting the stage for a seed crisis in 4 years

WINNER will break Haitian seed distribution networks, leaving Haiti dependent long after the program ends. Here’s how:
Farmers are enticed to buy Monsanto seeds because they’re offered at a 10% the market seed price. Yet, farmers can’t breed and save Monsanto’s hybrid seeds as they do with local varieties. Thus, WINNER disrupts local seed distribution networks as seed suppliers become Monsanto buyers. When WINNER expires in 4 years, Haitian farmers will no longer have subsidized hybrid seeds, but they also won’t have seeds saved up for local markets. The result? A genuine seed crisis.

Why is USAID doing this? Final word goes to ICTA’s head researcher, Louise Sperling: “humanitarian actors… see delivering seed aid as easy and they welcome the overhead [i.e. low administrative costs] – even if their actions may hurt poor farmers.”

¹ The terribly cumbersome, seldom used full name is: Watershed Initiative for National Natural Environmental Resources.

[…] It means our aid went to companies like Chemonics and Monsanto, whose damaging work we’ve already discussed, and Clayton Homes. And it means our aid went to support a UN occupation force hated by […]

[…] Chemonics raises eyebrows for multiple reasons. First, it’s a subsidiary of ERLY Industries, which also owns American Rice. Since the 1980s, American Rice captured half of the Haitian rice market, a shift that Bill Clinton recently admitted was the reason Haiti can no longer feed itself. Moreover, the agricultural program it runs, which revolves around distributing hybrid Monsanto seed, is likely to jeopardize the future of Haiti’s agricultural system. […]

[…] with Haitian groups at all. The contractor and USAID determine what the contractor will provide (in this case, hybrid seeds), but the contract itself is open-ended. Chemonics receives an “Indefinite” amount of […]

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[…] for the US. Now, however, we’re focused on using our aid for other business purposes, such as replacing Haitian seed distribution networks with Monsanto seed. Because of this, USAID can be honest in discussing the ramifications of food aid imports, whereas […]